Sunday, March 02, 2014

The Calvin men’s and women’s track and field teams hosted the Calvin Collegiate Indoor Track and Field Championships and both Calvin teams took first place. The Calvin men’s team took first place in a field of nine teams with 180 points while the Calvin women’s team took first place in a field of eight teams with a team score of 203.5 points. In the men’s competition, Calvin took first place in five events and took second in four more in finishing nearly 80 points ahead of Trine University which garnered 104.5 points. On the women’s side, Calvin took first place in five events and placed second or third in several other events to pile up a first place total of 203.5 points, finishing nearly 90 points ahead of second place Hope. A group of Calvin athletes will now compete at last-chance meets next weekend with the intentions of attempting to qualify for the upcoming NCAA III Indoor Track and Field Championships March 15 and 16 at Nebraska Wesleyan.

Sunday, March 02, 2014

DANVILLE, KY – The Calvin baseball team dipped to 1-2 on the year with a 12-7 loss to Defiance College on Saturday afternoon. The loss was Calvin’s second in as many days to the Yellow Jackets. Defiance banged out 12 hits off of three Calvin pitchers, grabbing a 5-3 lead in the second inning and then exploding for six runs in the bottom of the fourth to take control. Calvin added three runs in the fifth and a single run in the top of the eighth but could get no closer. Calvin came up with eight hits off the Defiance pitching staff with sophomore Travis Kraai (Grand Rapids/Grand Rapids Christian HS) and senior Matt Schepel (Grand Rapids/Grand Rapids Christian HS) collecting two hits apiece. Schepel drove in a pair of runs while sophomore Michael Kamp (Homer Glen, IL/Chicago Christian HS) had a hit and drove in three runs. Senior Grant VanderWall (Wyoming/South Christian HS) took the loss for Calvin, allowing five hits and six earned runs in three innings of work. Calvin is scheduled to return to action on March 13 when it travels to Kalamazoo College for an MIAA doubleheader.

Sunday, March 02, 2014

WESTERVILLE, OH – Calvin opened its 2014 campaign with a 15-8 loss at Otterbein University Saturday afternoon. The game marked the season opener for both teams. Otterbein jumped out to a 4-1 lead and led 7-3 at halftime. Calvin scored in the opening seconds of the second half on a goal by junior Karissa Reed (Greenville/Greenville HS) but Otterbein answered with four unanswered goals to put the game out of reach. Sophomore Carolyn Forbes (Farmington Hills/Marian HS), junior Lissa Busscher (Holland/Holland Christian HS) and Reed has two goals apiece for Calvin in defeat. Also scoring goals were junior Mary Hoogstra (Grand Rapids/Grand Rapids Christian HS) and freshman Emily Cefaratti (Hinsdale, IL/Hinsdale Central HS). Cefaratti, Forbes and senior Michelle Holwerda (Grand Rapids/Grand Rapids Christian HS) were all credited with one assist on the afternoon. Otterbein outshot Calvin 31-18. Senior Lauren Spoelstra (Oakland, NJ/Eastern Christian HS) had nine saves in goal for the Knights.Reed collected five ground balls for Calvin. Otterbein took advantage of its free-position chances, converting 6 of 13 while the Knights went 0 for 5. Calvin is back in action on next weekend when it travels to Defiance for a game on March 7 and then to Capital on March 8.

Sunday, March 02, 2014

DEFIANCE, OH – The Calvin men’s lacrosse team picked up its first victory of the young season and the third win in program history with a 15-1 win at Defiance College Saturday afternoon. The game marked Calvin’s largest margin of victory at the varsity level. Calvin led 5-0 at halftime, 8-1 after three quarters of play and then exploded for eight goals in the fourth quarter to seal the win. Freshman Chris Griffin (Howell/Hartland HS) led the charge with four goals and three assists, setting a Calvin single-game record for most points (7) in a game. Freshman Jake Hortsman (Hudsonville/Unity Christian HS) was also stellar in the middle, winning 10 of 15 face offs. Senior Casey Harless (Dewitt/Dewitt HS) had five saves in goal for the Knights. Calvin returns to action next Saturday when it travels to Elmhurst for a 2 p.m. (EST) game.

Sunday, March 02, 2014

Coming off an upset of nationally ranked Olivet in the first round of the MIAA Tournament on Thursday, the Calvin women’s basketball team was looking for a repeat performance against the Flying Dutch of rival Hope College in the Tournament Final on Saturday night. The Knights faced a tall-task in Hope, ranked #1 in the nation and entering with a perfect 26-0 record. Calvin trailed by 16 at half and by 20 with just over ten minutes to go, and a Knights rally in the second half drew Calvin within four at 81-77, but the Knights would come no closer as Hope closed out an 88-79 win. Junior Kayla Engelhard led Calvin with 19 points while junior Breanna Verkaik added 18 points and six rebounds. Junior Hannah Acre had 12 points while freshman Anna Timmer chipped in 11. The loss is the final game in the collegiate career of lone senior Kirstin Tripp, who goes down as one of the winningest players in Knights history at 95-19 for her career. Calvin’s season ends with an overall record of 19-8.

Saturday, March 01, 2014

.Seeking its first win against rival Hope in three opportunities this season, as well as an automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament, the Calvin men’s basketball team traveled to Holland for the MIAA Tournament Final on Saturday afternoon. Calvin made the most of its opportunity, defeating the 24th-ranked Flying Dutchmen 78-53 to punch its ticket to the NCAA III Tournament. The win marked Calvin’s largest margin of victory over Hope at DeVos Fieldhouse. At 22-5, Calvin will be making its 19th appearance in the NCAA III Tournament including its eighth under current head coach Kevin Vande Streek.

Saturday, March 01, 2014

The visiting Aquinas College Saints handed the Calvin College Knights an 8-1 loss on Friday inside Calvin’s Huizenga Tennis and Track Center. Aquinas is now 3-0 on the year while Calvin is 1-3. Aquinas took all three doubles points. At number-one doubles, the Aquinas team of Lauren Ramey and Tiffany Tuori edged Calvin’s Megan Visser and Claire Spoelhof 8-6. At number-two doubles, Gina Kukulski Rilie DuShane of Aquinas claimed an 8-2 win over Calvin’s Bethany Zoerhof and Ellie Benzel. At three doubles, Ariana Kabodian and Marjeanne Bothman topped Liz Turner and Courtney Selvius 8-1. At one singles, Ramey rolled to a 6-2, 6-0 win over Visser and Daniela Fonseca defeated Spoelhof 6-4, 6-2 to put the Saints up 5-0. Kabodian claimed a 6-1, 6-2 win at three singles but Tuori was forced to dig down to pull out a 4-6, 6-0, 6-0 win over Calvin’s Benzel at four singles.At five singles, Bothma was also forced to three sets by Calvin’s Turner before pulling out a 6-4, 3-6, 10-7 win. Calvin’s lone point came at six singles with Selvius defeating DuShane 7-5, 3-6, 10-4 in another three-set thriller. Calvin is back in action on March 15 when it faces Davenport.

Saturday, March 01, 2014

The multi-events of the Calvin College Indoor Track and Field Championships began on Friday inside the Spoelhof Fieldhouse Complex. In the women’s five-event pentathlon, freshman Bethany Van Eck took first place with a point total of 2,969 points. She had a time of 9.77 in the 60 meter hurdles followed by a high jump of 5-1 1/4 and a shot put of 27-5 1/2. In the long jump, she went 16-1 3/4 and then clocked a time of 2:40.87 in the 800 meters.Junior Kelley Tuinenga was fourth with 2,643 points while Maria Steblay was fifth (2,348) and Haley Stadnikia sixth (1,582). In the men’s heptathlon, junior Erik Holstege has a first-day total of 2,764 points. He clocked a time of 7.43 in the 60 meter dash, had a season-best jump of 22-3 3/4 in the long jump, heaved the shot put 40-10 1/4 and then went 5-10 3/4 in the high jump. He has three events remaining on Saturday - the 60 meter hurdles, the pole vault and the 1,000 meter dash as he hopes to improve his final point total in a bid for the upcoming NCAA III Indoor Track and Field Championships. The rest of the competition will also take place on Saturday.

Friday, February 28, 2014

DANVILLE, KY - The Calvin baseball team escaped the frozen wonder winterland of West Michigan and officially opened its 2014 season in the less frigid climate of Kentucky Friday afternoon and evening. Calvin opened the day with a 7-3 loss to Defiance College of Ohio but came back to defeat the host Colonels of Centre 6-1 in an evening matchup. Calvin is back in action on Saturday, taking on Defiance College at noon at Centre’s baseball complex.

Friday, February 28, 2014

The Calvin baseball team is set to kick off its season tomorrow afternoon in Kentucky when it faces Defiance College at 3 p.m. and host Centre College at 6 p.m. Calvin is coming off a season where it posted an overall record of 16-25 and a conference record of 15-13 that was good for fourth place in the league standings. The Knights were recently picked to finish fourth in the MIAA preseason coaches’ poll.Under the direction of head coach John Sparks, the Knights return 19 returning letterwinners from last year’s team including first team All-MIAA selection Grant VanPutten who established a Calvin single-season record last year for stolen bases. VanPutten (Holland/Holland Christian HS) was also received all-region honors from both D3baseball.com and the American Baseball Coaches Association after batting .426 with 41 runs scored and 23 stolen bases.Also returning is sophomore shortstop Jalen Bouma (Ann Arbor/Ann Arbor Huron HS) who was named to the All-MIAA second team last spring. Calvin returns its entire pitching rotation from last year as well as seniors Jack Jorgenson (Milwaukee, WI/Milwaukee Lutheran HS), Cory Laster (Ludington/Ludington HS), Grant VanderWall (Wyomingt/South Christian HS), Jeff Victor (Holland/Holland Christian HS) and junior Nate Schepers (Holland/Holland Christian HS) Jeremy Kamp (Homer Glen, IL/Chicago Christian HS) all saw time as starters in Calvin’s pitching rotation last spring. In addition to Bouma and VanPutten, returning starters in the field include senior catcher Kyle Spoelma (Grand Rapids/South Christian HS), sophomore third baseman Travis Kraai (Grand Rapids/Grand Rapids Christian HS), junior second baseman Ben Wohl (Canton/Plymouth HS), and sophomore Jordan VanderWall (Wyoming/South Christian HS) in left field.